With You There To Help Me
by hobbleit
Summary: Doug/John Paul. Ste wants to sell his share of the Deli and Doug's not happy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: It's just me back with another McCarter fic since I've run out of ideas for Staring at the moment. It's based around spoilers for next week so I'm warning you now if you avoid them. Oh yeah, and there's a bit of swearing at the beginning. I don't usually include swearing but it seemed appropriate for the context and it's a word I'm using to describe Ste a lot these days.**

**This is a two part fic (I hope). Not sure when part 2 will be up because I'm busy at work until Sunday but I'll try and get some stuff written.**

**The title is from With You There to Help Me by Jethro Tull.**

* * *

_Fuck, _Doug thought. _Fuck, Fuck, Fuck. _That wasn't what he had wanted to hear. Ste wanted to sell his half of the Deli. What the hell was he going to do? He didn't have the money to buy him out and he didn't know who would want to buy Ste out. Where did that leave him?

He flopped down on the sofa in the Deli and ran his hand through his hair trying desperately to come up with a solution to the bomb that Ste had just dropped on him. He needed someone to talk to, to help him figure things out so he pulled out his phone and fiddled with it for a few seconds before sending a text to John Paul.

_Are you busy? I need to talk._

A few moments later his phone buzzed with the response.

_Not busy, where are you?"_

Doug replied and ten minutes later John Paul walked through the door.

"You okay?" He asked as he sat down next to Doug, noticing immediately that he looked troubled. He took Doug's hand and squeezed it gently. Doug smiled sadly at the small gesture.

"Ste wants to sell his half of the Deli," Doug explained. "And that means one of three things. Either I buy him out; which I can't afford, I find someone else to buy him out or we sell the Deli completely and he gets his half."

"That's not good."

"I don't know what to do."

"Can you try and convince him not to?"

"He seems pretty adamant that's what he wants to do," Doug replied sadly.

"Hey," John Paul comforted wrapping his arm around Doug's shoulder and pulling him close. "Don't let him get you down."

Doug closed his eyes and took comfort in John Paul's arms. He loved the feeling of just being held by the larger man. It made him feel safe and just for a moment as if everything was going to be okay. "I just can't believe he would do something like this."

"I know you and Ste are close and you still consider him a friend so don't take what I'm going to say badly but I'm not surprised he's done something like this."

"I think I should start using close in the past tense," Doug said. "We haven't been close for a long time."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "You know, when we opened this place it was supposed to be a fresh start for us. I spent so much of my life screwing up and I just wanted to have something that showed that I wasn't a complete failure. It was supposed to be our chance to show that _we_ weren't failures. And we weren't, we were good at this. We built this place from the ground up and now it's all going to hell."

"The problem is Ste doesn't care anymore," John Paul told him.

"I know," Doug agreed, jumping to his feet and pacing angrily across the Deli. "He hasn't cared since Brendan went to jail but a part of me really hoped that he would come back from that."

"Ste is selfish and untrustworthy; maybe it would be best to just cut him loose."

"But then I lose the Deli and I don't want that. I just feel so useless."

"I'm sure there's something you could do."

"Maybe it would be best if I just gave up and sold it," Doug said glumly. "Both of us started this business and I don't even know if I want to do this on my own. The whole reason I came back from America after Ste and I broke up was this place. I love it and I don't want to let it go but I don't want to fight because I'm too tired. I'm tired of trying so hard to keep Ste from completely going off on one and it's not like I can get him to change his mind. I'm not even sure I want to so I don't know what to do."

John Paul stood up and grabbed Doug's arms; stopping him from pacing. He raised one of his arms and stroked Doug's cheek tenderly. "Don't give up so easily. Look, I don't know what you should do and I can't tell you what to do but whatever happens I'll agree with you if that helps," he smiled at the younger man and Doug felt his heart skip as he so often did when John Paul looked at him like that.

"I just need to take my mind off things for a bit," Doug replied. John Paul wrapped his arms around Doug's waist and pulled him into a hug.

Doug pressed close against John Paul and buried his head into the crook of the taller man's neck, breathing in his scent. He wanted to stay that way forever, just forget all his problems and stay in John Paul's arms because nothing else mattered when he was being held by the older man.

"I think I can help with that bit," he smiled and leaned in to kiss Doug.

They stood like that in the middle of the Deli just kissing for several minutes before Doug pulled away and rested his head on John Paul's shoulder. "That feels good," he whispered softly.

"Feeling better?" John Paul asked.

"Much better," Doug smiled. "For a moment I forgot what it was I was so upset about."

"I have to get back home, I left Matthew with Mum," John Paul said as he kissed Doug's temple. "How about you come back with me and we'll just sit around, watching TV, spend the night not thinking about Ste or the Deli or what you're going to do and in the morning when you've had time to sleep you can think about it again?"

Doug nodded in agreement. "Come on," he said; pulling away from John Paul but taking a quick moment to plant another kiss on his lips. "I could do with a relaxing night in."

John Paul took Doug by the hand and stroked it gently with his thumb before pulling him towards the door and out of the Deli.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's chapter 2. It's just descended into fluffy nonsense but I'm ok with that.**

**The song lyrics at the end are from the song With You There To Help Me by Jethro Tull.**

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"Here, keep hold of Matthew, will ya?" John Paul said as he handed his son over to Doug who was sitting on the couch lost in thought. He had barely spoken since they had returned to the McQueen household. John Paul knew that despite his promise not to think about Ste or the Deli that was exactly what Doug was doing. "If you're going to mope about the Deli then you have to keep the baby entertained," he explained.

Doug took Matthew in his arms and held him close. He stared at the small baby who looked up at him with curious eyes. He smiled when Matthew grasped his finger with his tiny hand.

"See," John Paul said, flopping down on the sofa next to Doug. "There is no unhappiness that cannot be cured by an adorable baby," he smiled at his son as he stroked his cheek. Matthew gurgled happily.

"Is that your plan for the night, use the baby to keep me from thinking about the Deli?" John Paul nodded. "That's low."

"But very effective I think you'll find," John Paul grinned and Doug had to concede that he was right. "Besides, he's very comfy now and if I move him he might cry and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

"Not at all," Doug laughed and rocked Matthew who was so comfortable he was quickly falling asleep in his arms. "Budge up," Doug said and shifted until he was lying on the sofa in between John Paul's legs with his head resting against John Paul's chest. Doug then repositioned Matthew so he was lying on his chest and he rested his hand on the baby's back; feeling the rise and fall of the sleeping child's soft breathing. John Paul brought his arms around the pair of them and clasped Doug's hand lightly.

Doug could feel the heat from John Paul's body seep into his and he allowed himself to relax. "I could lie like this all night," he murmured.

"I think Matthew could too," John Paul said as he gazed down at his sleeping son. "There are worse places in the world to be," he shifted his head slightly so he could kiss Doug's neck.

Doug moaned at the pleasurable sensation that coursed through his body. "Stop doing that, you tease," he said.

"How does that make me a tease?" John Paul asked, feigning ignorance.

"You know very well why that makes you a tease. It's not like we can do anything with your son lying on my chest."

"Oh well I guess I'll just have to stop then," John Paul smirked and kissed Doug's neck once more. Doug moaned again. "Okay, I'm done."

"Yep, definitely a tease."

They both fell into a comfortable silence for several minutes after that. John Paul ran his hand up and down Doug's arm several times before resting it on his hips. He then began playing with the belt loop of Doug's trousers.

"I know I said that we wouldn't talk about it," John Paul started; breaking the silence, "But the Deli is so important to you and I want to understand why."

Doug closed his eyes and sighed. "Like I said earlier, I was a screw up. I was a drug dealer and I stole and lied and cheated. Then stuff happened and I realised that I needed more to life than just being a screw up."

"What changed?"

"I tried to kill myself." John Paul gasped.

"What happened?" Doug could hear the shock in John Paul's voice but he continued.

"It was just before Christmas a couple of years ago and I was feeling very depressed and alone and I was drunk. I just felt like there was no point anymore so I went to a bridge and I jumped. I guess someone must've seen me because the next thing I knew I was being given mouth to mouth by a paramedic but I had the strangest dream and after that I just felt like I had this new purpose.

"Then I started hanging around with Ste and we both had this feeling that we wanted something more, you know? To prove that we could do something with our lives and that's why we opened the Deli. It gave me a new purpose. I was so happy."

"Are you still happy?"

"When I was with Ste I told him that all I needed was him and the Deli. I don't have him anymore and I'm okay with that but I still have the Deli. I still love it."

"Then you should try everything to keep it."

"Really?"

"Yes because the way your eyes light up when you're talking about it means that it's worth it."

"You can't even see my eyes."

"But I know they're lit up right now because they always do."

John Paul leaned down to kiss Doug but was interrupted by Matthew who had woken up and started crying.

"I think someone might be hungry," John Paul said as he and Doug sat up on the sofa. "Keep him occupied while I make a bottle up."

John Paul watched Doug settle Matthew from the kitchen and smiled at the sight before him.

"What?" He heard Doug ask.

"Huh?"

"You're staring."

"I know. I like staring at you. You look happy sitting there looking after my son," John Paul crossed the room and handed Doug a bottle.

"I am happy," Doug replied as he started to feed Matthew. "Despite Ste being an ass I'm happy. I spent so long being unhappy. I'm just going to try and figure something out but until then I'm just going to have to make the best of a bad situation."

Doug fell quiet after that, lost in thought and watching Matthew feed. He thought about the last year of his life. It did hurt that Ste had so little consideration for their business that he would just want to drop it and Doug. He understood that Ste was pining for Brendan and he sympathised with him but he was angry that Ste cared so little. On the other hand he was relieved and that made him feel a little guilty. He didn't want to constantly having to tiptoe around Ste and bear the brunt of his bad moods. No matter how positive Doug was determined to be Ste could make him feel worthless with just a few words. Maybe it was for the best that they no longer had anything to do with each other.

He was brought out of his thoughts by John Paul running his hands up and down his arms. Doug turned to kiss him. He could do this, he decided. He wasn't the same person that he was last year. He was not so insecure that he would do anything to keep Ste. He was more confident in himself and happier than he had been in months. He wasn't going to let this get him down like he would have done previously.

Besides which, he knew he wasn't alone.

_**I'm going back to the ones that I know  
with whom I can be what I want to be.  
Just one week for the feeling to go  
and with you there to help me  
then it probably will.**_


End file.
